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Iowa City is
enjoying an orgy of self-righteousness over the troubled search for a president
of the University of Iowa. Day after day the pages of local newspapers
and Internet blogs proclaim ever greater levels of greed, arrogance and
evil intent on the part of the Iowa state Board of Regents, Gov. Vilsack
and a shadowy conspiracy of insurance companies. University faculty and
staff have the answers, of course, and if only the state of Iowa would
leave everything to them, the crisis would pass.

The inconvienent truth

The inconvenient truth ignored
or forgotten in all of the fun is that the university depends on Iowa taxpayers,
whose generosity has limits. Many Iowans view the university as rich, liberal
and increasingly out of touch with the rest of the state. Johnson County
ranked 73rd of 100 Iowa counties in per capita personal income in 1969,
but currently ranks seventh. In 1960 Richard Nixon carried the state of
Iowa and Johnson County. Republicans still occasionally carry Iowa, but
in 2006 Johnson County won't vote for a Republican even if he opposes war
and champions the arts.

Being richer and more liberal
is not a bad thing, but it does create political vulnerabilities. Iowa
taxpayers contributed $280 million to UI in 2006, nearly 6 percent of total
state spending and 24 percent of total university income. State appropriations
as a percentage of university income have declined significantly over the
years, and could decline still further. Maintaining state support will
require diplomacy and acceptance of a certain level of state control, exercised
through the Board of Regents.

Trusting the regents

Given the level of state
support, most Iowans would not think that regent involvement in the selection
of a president is unreasonable. Given the perception of divergence between
the university and the state, most Iowans might be reluctant to allow the
faculty and staff of the university to select the president and ignore
the preferences of the regents.

Iowa taxpayers protect their
investment in the university through their elected representatives, who
have selected the Board of Regents. How are they likely to respond to faculty
and staff votes of no confidence in the regents and T-shirts proclaiming
membership in the "radical minority"? It seems unlikely that they will
respond by supporting tax increases to be spent in Iowa City. If regents
are forced out, taxpayers might conclude that they have lost control of
the university, and might respond by cracking down (higher teaching loads,
weakened faculty tenure) or by cutting financial support.

Conspiracy theories

Probably the most entertaining
aspect of the current controversy is the widely held belief that a cabal
of health insurance executives in Des Moines is conspiring to plunder the
university.

The story is that regents
with connections to the health insurance company Wellmark, stung by former
President David Skorton's attempt to raise insurance payments to University
Hospitals, forced Skorton out and are attempting to hire a "friendly" president.

As columnists in the Des
Moines Register are beginning to point out, Wellmark is a mutual company,
owned by its policyholders. Its interests -- and the interests of most
Iowans -- are served by lowering health care costs, not by raising them.
The public policy questions raised by the contract between the university
and Wellmark are complicated, and Iowa Citians should not assume that other
Iowans will view them as they do. Reducing these complex issues to conspiracy
theories and personal attacks on the governor and regents will only strengthen
the view that the university is greedy and out of touch.

An even-handed approach

I am not advocating acceptance
without question of whatever the regents suggest. The university community
should promote its interests and argue for state support. A good negotiator
asks for things, but asking for too much or taking the wrong tone can backfire.

Selecting leaders is hard.
It should not be surprising that the process occasionally breaks down or
that there are differences of opinion. University faculty and staff should
remember, however, that getting carried away by the excitement of fiery
rhetoric and political combat might have significant unintended consequences.
The university currently is unprepared to give up state support and must
mind how it is perceived around the state.

A new president will be selected,
and if the faculty and staff keep their cool, the difficulties of the selection
process will be forgotten. If not, the process will be remembered, causing
lasting damage to the university.

Like them or not, the regents
are representatives of the state of Iowa, which in Iowa City is the hand
that feeds us._______________David Barker, an Iowa
City native, is a visiting scholar and former assistant professor in the
UI Finance Department. He is also a partner in Barker Apartments, which
owns apartments in Iowa City, Coralville and Davenport.